Resources-- Notes on Use

Alan Jabbour and Carl Fleischhauer record Burl Hammons in West Virginia in 1973.

Notes on RESOURCES

This is a good place to begin to explore some of the course RESOURCES (you'll find all the links together in a post in the Blog Archive, column to right). There are many many different versions of the songs recorded--and the "stream" of these versions constitutes a history in its own right.

Primary are the UC Berkeley Music Library's Streaming Audio and Video Collections--look into these two in particular:

* American Song                                                          
http://search.alexanderstreet.com/amso

* Smithsonian Global Sound                                        
http://search.alexanderstreet.com/glmu

For this week, use "Down in the Valley" and "Birmingham Jail" as search terms. There's some overlap in the archives--and each collection has a different emphasis. That means a lot of thinking  and sorting on your part. No, I don't expect you to listen to everything, but rather to get a good sense of what's there--and to begin to learn to follow you own path. To be discriminating...

Also remember to check the Max Hunter collection for his "front porch" recordings, made on the road in the Ozarks (Arkansas) between 1956-76. Ollie Gilbert remains a favorite.  

* Max Hunter Folk Song Collection

YOU TUBE and the 50 YEAR RULE. There are unlimited number of versions of everything on You Tube, but finding the right version (is there such a thing?) is an increasing challenge. The 50-year-rule can help. Gets you to earlier material. Use google searches to find out about the selections. You need to be creative in your "research" of these songs--who sang them--and why.  I expect you to be articulate and specific about the songs--the versions, background. Ask in class--we'll discuss. For older material, the fact that the visual image is in bl;ack and white can be a tip off. And you can't always trust the publication date--when new collections are made, they have date of publication, not the date of original recording--which one can usually find on google with some poking around.

MUDCAT. Remember that the discussion threads in Mudcat are often a very good resource for how people interested in American Roots Music interpret it collectively. Takes some patience to go through, but what you'll find here can be illuminating. We discussed in class the obscure words in the lyrics for I Ride An Old Paint--muleskinner and cowhand terms from more than a century ago... Fiery and Snuffy... throw the hoolihan... You'll find this discussed on Mudcat.

*  Digital Tradition (Mudcat)

HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU KNOW? The S&P course isn't about the minutiae of dates and titles--however, the fabric of what we're listening to--and singing--has a specific historical character. Which I expect you to know in its main outlines. I'll ask questions in class to see if you're following through. (Remember, the key word on your part is initiative!)

Sample question: What is Elizabeth Cotten's most loved song--how old was she when she wrote it--and what historical associations does it evoke? Or, to turn the question around, Who wrote "Freight Train when she was eleven years old--and what's its historical background (traeted in an eliptical fashion). Also, why did she stop playing music for all those years?

Include your own discussion of what you find on your personal notebook (blog) site...